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POTATO DIGGING MACHINE. No. 334,456. Patented Ja1 1. 19 1886.

M%/V%%%MZ INVENTDR WITNESSES:

944 ,47, A A r MM. BY

V ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM HENRY MOGALL, OF GREENWICH, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO OSCAR H. EDDY,AND WALDEN G. EDDY, OF SAME PLACE.

POTATO-D IGGING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 334,456, dated January 19, 1886.

Application filed July 10, 1885. Serial No. 171,158. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HENRY Mo- CALL, of Greenwich,Washington county, State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Potato-Digging Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in potato-digging machines, and the purposes and objects of my invention are to make this class of devices more efficient in their operation and action.

Accompanying this specification, to form a part of it, there is a sheet of drawings containing four figures illustrating my invention, wherein like parts are identified by the same letters of reference.

Of these illustrations, Figure 1 shows a perspective of myimproved potato-digger. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal vertical section taken through the mold'board and one of the screenbars, on the line .70 00 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross vertical section taken on the line m x of Fig. 1,

and Fig. iris a horizontal section taken on the line 00 m of Fig. 2.

The letter N designates the handles, and the letter B indicates the beam, which is made in two parts, I) and 12 which are hinged together, as indicated at H, so as to be laterally adj ustable thereat. This lateral adjustment of the mold-board and its connected parts by means of a hinge in the beam adapts the mold-board to be promptly deflected to either side, as the case may be, to more readily catch into an uneven hill.

Theletter M indicates the mold-board,which at its rear is concavely curved upwardly with a scoop form, (as indicated at m,) to connect with the downwardly-curved sides t of the top T. This mold-board at the front, in advance of its connection with the curved top, is constructed with its sides from the center curved downwardly, as indicated at m, this last-named eur'vebeing'just the reverse of that in the moldboard where it joins the curved top T, and at the front end, as indicated at m, the point of the mold-board is slightly curved downwardly. These curves m m m, arranged in the mold-board, are functionally useful for the following purposes: By downwardly curv ing the sides and end of the mold-board (where the latter is in advance of its curve connecting with the top) a furrow islnade by the traverse ofthe board, and that portion ofthe earth which is over the potatoes is in part cast from off the sides of the board and thrown over, thereby leaving less to pass through the scoop formed by the mold-board and top, and consequently less material for the screen to act upon, while the scoop form of the board serves to draw in and concentrate the earth for the action of the screen.

The letter S designates a shoe that is attached to the under side of the mold-board,and WV a wheel or roller that is arranged to have its shaft 0 operate in slotted bearings If, that are constructed in the divided offset parts of the shoe indicated at s". It is the function of this wheel, as thus constructed, to have an unsteady motion on its shaft-bearings, and thus cause the wheel to move about, to shake and make more prompt and efficient the operation of the screen in siftingthe earth through it.

The letter R designates the screen, which is made to have a series of blade-form bars, I), that are extended from the rear end of the mold board, with their blade-edges at the top and bottom. These bars are arranged at a suitable distance apart to allow the free passage of the dirt between them, and from where attached to the-under side of the mold-board, as indicated at 9, they curve downwardly from the latter, with the rear end of the mold-board (indicated at m) projected beyond the attachment of the screen bars, as indicated at Fig. 2. These screen-bars are curved upwardly as projected rearwardly until their outer ends are on a line with, or nearly on a line with, the top 'of the mold-board.

The blade form given to the bars adapts them to cut through and separate the passing dirt, and facilitates the passage of it between them. Placing the inner end of the mold board above the screen where adjacent causes the dirt to fall abruptly upon the screen after leaving the board, and this facilitates the op eration of separating the dirt from the potatoes, and the upward curves on the outer ends facilitate the collection of the potatoes and their delivery from off the ends of the screenbars in close proximity to each other, where they are more easily collected than when spread out over alarge area. The scoop form given to the device by the curve in the mold-hoard l and the top where they connect enables their combined parts to core out from the hill no more 1 earth than is necessary to include the potatoes that it contains.

\Vhilc I have shown the nioldhoard made i with the advance cud carved downwardly, i such curve may he omitted, PlOVltlttl the curves in and m? are retained.

Having thus described my invention, whatI claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. The combination of the digger and the screen R with the shoe S, secured to the moldboard of the digger, and the wheel .V, journaled in slotted hearings in the shoe and arranged to oscillate on its hearings, substantially as described, and for the purpose stat-ed.

2. The combination of the top, made with the downwardlycurved sides t", the moldhoard M, made at the rear with the upwardlycurved sides m, to connect with said top, and

in advance of the said connection having the downwardly-arranged side curves, m and the screen R, madewith bladeform bars b,attached to the under side of the mold-board, to be be low the rear end of the latter, and made to curve upwardly at their rear ends, substantial ly in the manner as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination of the top '1, the mold hoard M, the screen R, the shoe S, made with the offsets s", the wheel W, having the shaft 0, and the slotted hearings b", constructed and arranged to operate substantially in the manner as and for the purposes set forth.

Signed at Greenwich, YVashington county, New York, this 27th day of June 1885, in the presence of the two witnesses whose names are hereto written.

WI LL'IABI HENRY MCGALL.

Witnesses:

J urns H. THOMPSON, ROBERT J. \VAIT. 

